Cloudy Pool

[foosboy2]

Okay, I passed OCLT this morning.

Wife just measured and got the following:
FC 11
CC 1 which is weird since it was .5 last night and this morning
TA 130
CH 330
CYA 40
PH 7.8

So what is next? Do I just use pool calculator to get the values to the TFP targets or do I use the targets that I saw somewhere in Pool School? What should be my targets?

I do still have a bad metal stain in the deep end. Should I do anything about that?[attachment=0:ut9ktpwt]IMG-20120527-00509.jpg[/attachment:ut9ktpwt]

Thank you,
Mitch

 

[8corneflakes]

Go Mitch! I was in this situation six years ago. After a $1000 week at the pool store, I stumbled upon this site. It took me almost three weeks to get my FC to hold overnight. Found out my kids were peeing in the pool. Gross! I stuck with BBB and am a devout follower of the guys (and girls) on this website. They guided my husband in the build of our own pool and answered our thousands of questions. I have no advice to give as I am still learning after all these years. Just wanted to say...Way to stick with it!

 

[jblizzle]

Since CC > 0.5, you need to continue the shock process.
Is your water crystal clear?

You have passed 1 of the 3 tests to stop shocking, but need to pass all 3.

 

[linen]

I with jbliz, CC of 1 means you should keep with the shock process until it is >0.5 ppm. I would stay at your shock level and do another OCLT tonight. Hopefully your CC will be below 0.5 ppm tomorrow and the OCLT will still pass. Have you been brushing the pool when you can?

 

[foosboy2]

Just a quick reply while driving that I have been at .5 cc for 5 days and crystal clear since before memorial day and then last night was the first night of holding the fc and having .5 cc in the morning. My wife measured the 1.0 cc and I assumed it was a mistake since I have had .5 cc for so long.

I will remeasure everything tonight but I think I have passed.

Mitch

 

[linen]

I agree, redo the test and see what you get for CC. If you have any doubt, I would error on the side of caution and do that OCLT/CC test tonight/tomorrow.

 

[foosboy2]

Theresa thank you for the comment. I have been sold after I got insight on the citric acid causes high chlorine intake and once someone else shared that the oclt process also took them weeks and many many gallons of chlorine. I now preach to all my friends and neighbors to empower themselves and utilize TFP.

I verified and did have .5 cc. Everything else looked as she stated except for the ph which I thought looked more like 7.5. So I am positive that I pass OCLT.

So now what?

Thanks
Mitch

 

[jblizzle]

If you are sure you passed the 3 tests, just let your FC drift down to the maintenance range and start swimming.

Once the FC is < 10ppm, check your pH and adjust as needed.
Maybe start the Lowering Total Alkalinity process if you are bored and have nothing better to do since you are not checking and adding bleach all the time

 

[Butterfly]

With CYA of 40, maintain FC between 3 and 7, and never below 3.

Congratulations

 

[JesseWV]

I think a final photo is in order!

Now that you are clean and sanitized, please remember that if you start using the trichlor tablets you will eventually run into problems with high CYA levels. You have a few options:

1. Use the trichlor tablets anyway. You'll need to keep a handle on it by knowing how much CYA each tablet adds. Once your CYA gets up to 80 your target FC will have risen to 9! You'll have to drain a large portion of your water and refill when this happens.

2. Manually dose your pool with bleach regularly. Your CYA level will very slowly fall over time due to splash out. You can use your trichlor tablets when you go on vacation which will bring it back up!

3. Get an automatic liquid chlorine injector or a S)alt W)ater Chlorine G)enerator.

 

[ultra800_96]

Glad to hear you got there Mitch! On the stain you asked about, you could try taking some citric or ascorbic acid in an old sock & move it around the stain & see if it would lift. Being you have everything else in order, I would wait a while & get used to your daily chlorine usage first before trying that. You don't want an excessive demand right away again, after fighting both that and organics.

My pool is vinyl, so I'm not an expert on yours, but your numbers to me look very good. The only thing I would think of adjusting is the bumping the CYA level up a bit, depending on the heat & chlorine loss during the day now.

The last pic you showed looks awesomely clear. Congratulations & enjoy the pool! Yep, we'd like to see another pic from up above like you had previously showed.

 

[linen]

Congrats foosboy2 Enjoy that pool :-D

 

[foosboy2]

Dear All,

The pool has been absolutely beautiful. I promise pictures soon. I even want to take or share a few underwater pictures because they look so good.

I have wanted to give back since I recieved so much help so I started going through the posts starting on page 1. So weird to read the posts from the beginning and realize how patient everyone from the site was with me. Thank you. So I will post my ideas for improvement in the area that someone recommended.

In the meantime, I did have a few questions that remain open/unanswered.
1) How plug where my Nature 2 Express cartridge was since I no longer want to use that?
2) What is scaling? What do you do once you have it? I feel some rough areas on the fiberglass and thought might be scaling.
3) What is a good solution to the "Scum line" around the pool.
4) I likely will try the "sock acid scrubbing" idea but are there any other ideas for the iron (red/orange staining) on the fiberglass? It really only have one bad section that is visible that can be seen in my prior posted pictures, however you can see much more starting or small amounts with polarized glasses.

Thanks again to all!
Mitch

 

[ultra800_96]

Hi Mitch,
Glad to see you post back & let us know. I bet you & family are happy with it. Yes, it is weird to read back from the beginning. Quite a journey you had, & I'm sure you feel much more knowledgeable about the chemistry now. I'm gonna try & answer what I can, but am unfamiliar with a fiberglass surface pool.

1) Is there a cartridge you can just take out & let water circulate through the empty canister? I thought I read that, but again not familiar with the Nature2.
2) Scaling develops from a combination of high calcium hardness along with letting PH get too high. If you're familiar with the pool calculator now, you can do a complete test, fill in your numbers in the "NOW" column & see where the CSI index is. You can do some playing around with the numbers in the "Target" Column" with your TA, CH, &/or PH to try to aim for a lower CSI value (usually maintaining a lower PH is the easiest answer). This will keep future scaling at bay. I usually target a slightly negative CSI in my pool. I won't comment on what to do to get it off your fiberglass, as I'm not knowledgeable enough to know what can be done without damage to the surface. Some of it might loosen in time maintaining a bit negative CSI. Others with more experience will hopefully chime in. If not, start a new thread on the subject.
3) If it's from body oils, suntan lotion, etc, I think a bit higher level of chlorine will oxidize it out, I've heard a magic eraser gets it clean also. I don't have that problem, no women around the house. Just an occasional few of my sons female friends that might use it once in a while.
4) I think the acid in sock method might be most useful for you if its in a localized area, without causing the pool to revolt with a high chlorine demand again. I'm getting a slight staining again on my vinyl liner walls. I use Iron Myte from Menards. It works pretty well taking it back off, but again, it is citric acid based, & have to watch my FC when I use it. I'll probably try again next spring on the AA, but WILL have more patience without adding more, & keep my winter cover on till I can hold chlorine again. I'm also doing topoffs this summer through my water softner to get rid of any additional metals entering the pool.

Sorry for the long answers, enjoy the pool & it feels good to us all to see another success story come across.

Take care,
Dave B.

 

[foosboy2]

Pool is cloudy after having people over yesterday and several major bouts of rain.

FC is 10
CC is .5
CYA is 60, ABC of pool chemistry said 30-80 but recommended levels said 30-50 for fiberglass non SWG.
PH is 7.5
TA is 110
CH not measured yet

Additional information:
Last Saturday I had to put on the new Nature 2 Express cartridge because the old one was leaking. Still looking for an answer of what I can put in place of the Nature 2 Express cartridge. I suppose I need to find a plug that fits the threads. Or replace the whole pipe with a solid pipe. Does anyone have any ideas.

Also, I did a search on the site for reverse osmosis (RO) and have yet to find a procedure for this.

What happens when the CYA is too high? I usually have so many splashing kids that I could see that the pool will need to be topped off by Sunday.

 

[linen]

Long term I would remove it and replumb. Short term if you can not find the right thread size plug, you could use a rubber stopper like this: [attachment=0:19b0xyc1]rubberstopper.JPG[/attachment:19b0xyc1] You can get something like this from the hardware store if measure your hole size.

Are you using tablets (trichlor) to chlorinate? Your cya level is getting high.

Also, I did a search on the site for reverse osmosis (RO) and have yet to find a procedure for this.

It is a service you pay for and I have heard it is only available in the southwest. At 60 ppm cya your water is manageable, but don't let it get any higher.

 

[karmazrevenge]

Hi foosboy2! Glad your pool is up and running as it should! Congrats! I can answer about the CYA, the rest I'll leave to experts. CYA protects your FC from being zapped by the sun, and when it's in range, that's a good thing. When your CYA gets too high, it takes very high levels of FC to be effective. So, you either add astronomical amounts of chlorine to the pool everyday, or you have to drain some/all of the water to get CYA back down to range. Whatever you do....don't let your CYA get too high!!

 

[foosboy2]

Thank you for the long term and especially the short term ideas for the nature 2 express issue.

Thank you for the comments that 60 is manageable but to not let it get higher. I will not allow the CYA to get any higher by completely turning off my tablets (trichlor) automatic chlorinator. I had it on a low setting because I was hovering low in the 30's but now I will turn it off completely and only chlorinate with liquid chlorine.

Also, thank you for the comments about CYA. I went back to the CYA/Chlorine chart and I see what your saying there. I used to be only concerned with too little CYA and that the sun would eat up the chlorine but now I see that high CYA also does something similar.

Ironically enough, I did a search on yahoo for reverse osmosis and it let me to this site and to a video.

Is there any explanation with my levels for the cloudy pool or is it just the high demand from all the people yesterday and just needs to work through. Additionally we cleaned the filter cartridge.

FC is 10
CC is .5
CYA is 60
PH is 7.5
TA is 110
CH not measured yet

Thank you,
Mitch

BTW should I close out this thread and start a new one when I have additional questions?

 

[linen]

Very likely due to high swimmer load. You have done the right thing by raising your FC level up. I would keep it high (maybe even up to your shock level of 18 ppm) today and if it is just temporary chlorine demand by having swimmers, things should clear right up.

BTW should I close out this thread and start a new one when I have additional questions?

For now I would keep this one. If it becomes a totally non-related discussion, then start a new one.

 

[foosboy2]

Thank you to all, it has been a great pool season! I was thinking that at the end of the season that I would try to get the metal stains out of the pool but now I am wondering if that is not such a good idea with closing up the pool. Any comment on this? You can see some of the metal stains in the deep end of the pool in some of my previously posted pictures.

Additionally, I thought I read somewhere about a process of scrubbing the metal stains out but I cant find the post now. I was thinking of scrubbing underwater with something, similar to scrubbing with an orange, and then running metal magic. I prefer to scrub with my hands rather than using the citric based solutions broadcast over the pool because that required heavy heavy amounts of chlorine and time to get me back to normal. Looking for comments on this also.

Thanks again!
I share with everyone my experience my victory and freedom accomplished from this forum and site!
Mitch